All comments are edited for length and content. Due to content or space limitations some comments may not be published. More than one comment from the same person during the same week will normally not be published. Please limit calls to two minutes or less.

A lady “wasn’t sure who takes care of the school buses,” but “whoever does needs to take bus number 11 off the road. It is spewing, it is terrible.”

A man said he “went shopping Monday (May 25)” at several chain stores “looking for graduation party apparel, party items.” He “found absolutely nothing. Being a local business owner myself, I want to shop Madera, but there was absolutely nothing for a graduation party.”

A woman, who said she lives “west of Schnoor,” “couldn’t believe on Memorial Day weekend there was hardly any flags out honoring that day. What’s wrong with you people? You still live in the United States.”

A man expressed his contempt, tongue in cheek. “The Madera Police Department is doing a remarkable job on graffiti with the help of a special company to end graffiti. A building almost across the street from the police department has graffiti in front, 20-feet above the ground.”

A couple that “stayed in Madera to see the air show” said, “It was a great show and we’ll be back for the planes, but we won’t make the mistake of driving around town.”

The man, speaking “for the both of us,” said, “We come from a similar-sized community, but here in Madera, I have never seen so much graffiti. It was everywhere. We drove all over town trying to find a place that was not marked up, but finally just gave up. Too bad, you would have such a beautiful town if it wasn’t for all that crap. Because of the graffiti we just stayed in our room at night, fearing there are too many gangs hanging around at night.”

A lady who said she “read the story about the veterinary doctor in Madera” last week had a story about him. “In fact, I have turned him into the State Veterinary Board for mutilating four cats. He cut their ears completely off when I took them in to get spayed and neutered. I have lots of photographs and witnesses.” She said she “owns a business in town” and left contact information.

A woman asked, “why doesn’t the Tribune publish the winning numbers for Super Lotto? Not all of us get the other paper. This would be a very valuable tool for your subscribers.”

A lady wanted “to congratulate the first graduating class of Madera South High. Unfortunately … (their yearbook) is the worst yearbook I’ve ever seen. Please try harder next year.”

A man commented about the garbage pickup and drivers “BFI apparently hires not-well-trained staff. When they dump the cans they leave half of it in the street. They don’t stop to pick it up because they are too busy talking on their cell phones.” He said when he calls to complain “they usually send somebody from the city out” because they are under contract with the city. “It is sloppy service and they leave our streets a mess.”

A man after reading the paper about “the Madera South Stallions loss (a championship baseball game). Why no mention “of a young man who really proved himself this year, Mike Hernandez. He did not get mentioned for his two-run home run in the first inning to get the team started. Not only that, but all the accomplishments. They were ranked number one.” (Editor’s note: Time and transportation constraints prevented an in-depth review of the game in the newspaper. The omission was not intentional.)

A man who said he “attended many air shows” had a comment about the coverage of this year’s show in Madera. “Your stories were great, especially the ones on the performers. The color pictures put you right at the show. Keep up the good work, and I hope the air show comes back next year. If you didn’t go, you really missed something.”

Another caller expressed a similar comment. “The stories were great.” But she “was afraid that the Tribune is going the way of other papers. I remember when the front page of the B-section (B-1) would have full color pictures. You ran lots of terrific pictures of the air show in Monday’s paper and they would have been great in color.”

About the air show, some callers expressed concern about the ticket prices. “I’m sure it was a wonderful air show,” said a man, “but at $20 a ticket I ended up watching it with my family from the road. It would have cost me $100 to get in, plus parking and refreshments.”

Another man said, “The attendance was not very good on Sunday. I wonder why? Could it have been the 20 bucks to get in? If the organizers would just have dropped it to $15, they could’ve had two or three thousand more people there every day and made more money, and the vendors too. The economy is rough and there are a lot of people not working right now.”

A lady had a similar comment. “It was a real shame that the prices for the Legends Over Madera were so high. In today’s economy, $20 to $30 per person, for a family of four (the price) was outrageous. My family and I would have loved to go, but simply could not afford it.”

Thank you for your comments. Remember, the Red Line is open for your messages 24 hours a day by calling 674-4478, or by visiting www.maderatribuneredline .com.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 7th, 2009 at 1:16 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.